Interview for Culture.pl about Identity Crisis Network
‘Western civilisation is stuck in a crisis of imagination, few people can afford to use fantasy, we rarely think about the future of people and the planet in positive terms. We would like at some stage of the project to move away from making diagnoses to imagining inspiring ways of coexisting in the world.’
On the crisis of identity politics (from left to right), the problems of institutions and curation, and faith in artistic intelligence. In a conversation for Culture.pl with Vera Zalutskaya, we talk about the Identity Crisis Network project. For now, we mainly have questions and concerns to share in a series of six seminars – two more to go, so feel free to join us next week.
interview by: Piotr Policht
Notes on 15. Manifesta Biennale
The new article about 15. Manifesta Biennial in hashtag Barcelona Metropolitana has just been published in Moodaily.
I have picked 4 of many amazing locations and the works placed there that enter into a dialogue with the space and its contexts.
Identity Crisis Network
Since the beginning of the year I have been working in a (for the first time so large and international!) curatorial collective with Vera Zalutskaya, Luka Cvetkovic, Luja Šimunović & Klara Petrović (from KUĆĆA) on a major project focusing on the search for new artistic practices in Eastern Europe in response to the crisis of identity politics.
In a few weeks we will announce a programme of online seminars, to which we are inviting great professionals from the field of art, philosophy or social sciences. Next year we are organising a conference in Zagreb. Also linked to this project are our study visits to North Macedonia, Moldova, Albania or Kosovo, which you can follow on IG. Join the newsletter!
A Man Eating His Own Tail: exhibition by Przemek Branas
In the latest installation, “A Man Eating His Own Tail,” Przemek Branas references the transcultural mythical figure of the Ouroboros. Associated with solar cults, the serpent became a symbol of infinity, eternal return, and the cyclical nature of time. This constantly devouring and regenerating mythical creature represented the eternity of matter and the concept of reconciling apparent opposites. However, it was also sometimes interpreted as a symbol of foolishness, going in circles, or irrational behavior.
CasCaDas ArtSpace, Barcelona
26 September – 2 November 2024
curator: Michalina Sablik
organizers: CasCaDas ArtSpace, Instytut Adama Mickiewicza
partners: Krupa Art Foundation
Lecture for Culture Makes: Decolonialism in art institutions
Starting from the theme of this year’s Venice Art Biennale, ‘Foreigners are everywhere’, we looked at the decolonial practices. These are based on the inclusion of marginal and overlooked voices, the reinterpretation of existing works, and the revision of gallery or museum practices. This trend is also reflected locally – in Polish art, where artists reveal power relations resulting from geopolitical processes and include national, ethnic or class minorities, and in Belarusian and Ukrainian art, which draws attention to Russian colonialism.
We Are a Dream: exhibition in Leipzig
At the beginning of September we are opening with Aleksandra Liput her solo exhibition at Kunsthalle.Ost in Leipzig!
In her solo exhibition, Aleksandra Liput refers to Ursula Le Guin’s science-fiction book ‘The Lathe of Heaven’. The plot of the book takes place in a violent, retrofuturistic dark city in a dystopian world, which in many ways resembles the reality we live in during the 2020s. The world around the protagonist is like a dark dream. All the movements of the grey people are recorded by technological surveillance, and their bodies are constantly subjected to the effects of various drugs. The protagonist discovers that even the realm of dreams is no longer safe and worry-free and that his disturbing fantasies are coming true in reality. So he decides to stay awake for months and undergo treatment from a suspicious doctor. He wants to reclaim his sleep, which for him is one of the last outposts of rebellion and individual freedom.
Smelling Art. Artists in the World of Fragrances
In recent years there has been a growing interest among visual artists in the sense of smell, including the creation of scents and perfumes. Many of them deal with the sense of smell in their creative practice, think about the olfactory layer of their works and create installations that affect other senses than just the sense of sight. Moreover, they often compose their own fragrances as part of their artistic activity and even create original perfumery. Through scent, they talk about people’s relationship with the world and with nature, about emotions and memory.
Read more in MooDaily!
Photo: Kamil Pierwszy, The Smell of the Beginning, 2020
Hybrids. Trans-corporeal Performances at the Labyrinth Gallery in Lublin in the 1970s.
The latest magazine Sešitu pro umění, teorii a příbuzné zóny 36/2024 (The Notebook for Art, Theory and Related Zones) published by the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague features my text on trans-corporeal performances in the 1970s. In it, I look at the work of Teresa Murak, Krzysztof Zarębski, Tomek Kawiak and Józef Robakowski in terms of their complex relationship with non-human entities.
The article is only a part of my PhD research, which is dedicated to performance at the Labirynt Gallery and BWA Lublin.
Herbalists. Teresa Murak and her Daughters
For the latest issue of Kwartalik Rzeźby Orońsko I have written an article “Herbalists. Teresa Murak and her Daughters” in which I look at the collaborative creative process engaging plants covering works by Diana Lelonek, Weronika Zalewska, Pamela Bożek and Julia Krupa, among others.
Photo: Solo exhibition by Teresa Murak at Import Export gallery in Warsaw 2024 by Błażej Pindor
Art Guide to Barcelona
I would like to remind you that the Manifesta Biennial is about to open in Barcelona, or rather on its outskirts, and it is already worth buying tickets for September 2024. To mark the occasion, I have prepared a micro guide to contemporary art in the city for MOOD SCENT BAR. I invite you to follow the paths I’m slowly trodding. No Antonio Gaudi included.
Interview with Jakub Gliński
For PURO Hotels Mag, I talk to Jakub Glinski, with whom we did our first exhibition as the duo Dzidy in 2018. Today, he candidly tells me about his unusual creative process, ADHD and his journey from the hardcore club scene and performance to the gallery world.
Public programs for “From the Ashes” exhibition
The “From the Ashes” exhibition at Zachęta National Gallery of Art is accompanied by a public program combining educational activities for various groups, author tours, workshops (including AI), performances and concerts. Among the artists involved in the program are Antonina Nowacka, Planet Luz, the X-Philes collective, Agata Lankamer and One Vivid Orange Wall.
Photo: Antonia Nowacka
“Call to Action!” podcast in Vogue Polska
The protagonists of the podcast “Call To Action!” by Zuzanna Krzątała are two curators, Michalina Sablik and Aleksandra Skowronska, whose interdisciplinary exhibitions marked the beginning of a new opening at Zachęta. Reflections on the future, especially in the context of the impending climate catastrophe, become the basis for reflexions on new directions in art. The boundaries between technology and biology, machine and human and animal are blurring. Through interactive objects, Michalina and Aleksandra invite us on a journey that engages the senses and imagination.
Magazyn Zachęta Online
Aleksandra Skowronska and I had the pleasure of editing No. 39 of the Zachęta Online Magazine accompanying our exhibitions. They invited writers, academics, researchers and artists to share their reflections on breakthrough moments and accompanying postulates and observations on the speculative turn in art, cyborg knowledge, the visuality of climate catastrophe or allied perspectives.
Photo: Natasza Gerlach
Artsy Malaga
Andalusia and Costa del Sol, loosely translated as the Sunny Coast, are one of the most popular travel destinations. With over 300 sunny days a year, a very short winter, the sea, mountains, and beautiful Moorish monuments, they attract tourists not only during the holiday season. However, few know that it’s also a hub of contemporary art and a region where numerous artists create on a daily basis. Discover the most interesting museums, galleries, and lesser-known art spots in Malaga, a city where I lived for three months.
From The Ashes exhibition
Future-oriented Ljubljana
New article was published in the Contemporary Lynx Magazine. I write there about five artists whom I had the pleasure of meeting this summer in Slovenia. They operate at the intersection of art and technology, creating digital projects that explore AI and form hybrid online identities.
Photo: Andrei Skufca
Art Update
The new issue of Art Monitor is now available, where you can read my extensive article about digital artists titled “Art Update.” Based on conversations with the creators, I write about how they operate on the boundary between the real and the virtual, how they translate digital art and aesthetics into the physical space of galleries, and finally, how they navigate the art market.
Artists:
Rafał Dominik, Sebulec, Franek Warzywa, Karolina Jarzębak, Zofia Pałucha, Laurą Radzewicz, Lena Peplińska, Justyna Górowska, Eternal Engine, Ernest Borowski, Wiktor Gałka, Kat Zavada, Dominik Jałowiński
Available in Empik Stores in Poland!
Polish & Belarusian AI artists
In the latest issue of the Orońsko Sculpture Quarterly accompanying the Youth Triennial, I write about Polish and Belarusian artists who use new AI tools and image generators in their artistic practice. They critically address issues related to technology development, surveillance and deep fakes in the Internet. I’m covering works of the Eternal Engine duo, Zofia Pałucha, Laura Radzewicz, Karolina Jarzębak, Agata Lankamer, Hleb Burnashev and Sasha Vielichko.
Magazines available in Empik stores and on the website of the Polish Sculpture Center in Orońsko.
Photo: Agata Lankamer, Gun Girls, 2023
Dear Future Exhibition
The next installment of the Dear Future project, a Ukrainian-Polish exhibition reflecting on the future in the context of crises, will be available for viewing from November 24th at the Galeria Bielska BWA. I am very excited to be able to coordinate this project with wonderful and dedicated persons!
🖤 Artists: Danylo Halkin, Maria Matiashova, Nazar Furyk, BRDA Foundation, fantastic little splash, Marta Romankiv, Pamela Bożek, Małgorzata Mycek, Alicja Czyczel, Livyj Bereh, Weronika Zalewska, Anna Sydorenko
👩💻 Curators: Yulia Krivich, Anita Németh
📍 Location: Bielska BWA Gallery (Willa Sixta), Bielsko-Biała, Poland
🕠 Opening: November 24, 2023, at 6:00 PM
New Article: David Hockney’s iPad
Seemingly, there is nothing exciting here – a gallery in New York is exhibiting the works of an artist as recognizable and renowned as David Hockney, presenting a series of his latest paintings, the subject matter of which seems quite conventional. These are primarily colorful images of flowers in vases, i.e. traditional still lifes. What arouses emotions here is the technique of making the works – the 86-year-old artist painted all of them using an iPad.
🌺🌸🪷
New text for Moodaily covering an exhibition by David Hockney at David Benrimon Fine Art Gallery in New York.
New Article: Autumn 2023 Best Exhibitions
I have browsed through exhibitions in the most important European art galleries for you and made a subjective selection. In the autumn of 2023, we will see a lot of revolutionaries, women, and queerness.
Read more at MOOD SCENT BAR
Enjoy 💁♀️
Vogue: Young Talents
I am immensely delighted to have been featured as one of the protagonists in the article ‘Young Talents: On the Threshold of Fame’ within the latest September edition of Vogue Magazine. I proudly represent the realm of visual arts, offering a narrative of my curatorial practice. ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚
💌 Interview: Julia Właszczuk
✨ Photo: Maciek Edelman